Cas(e) This Sketch #116

I have not had a chance to play along with the sketches from Cas(e) This Sketch for awhile so I was happy to be able to create a card this week with their lovely sketch.  Unfortunately I needed a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her dad and I thought the simplicity of a CAS sketch would be perfect for a card to convey my condolences.  Here is the sketch I used:

I am also entering this card at the one year anniversary challenge at Always Playing With Paper. (Congratulations Lesley!!)

Finally, I am also entering this card at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes challenge.

Well tomorrow is hump day....halfway through the work week.  To celebrate I think I might come home after work and make a card for a friend.  What are your plans?

~~Sandi~~

Thanks

I was recently involved in an online crop at Paper Issues.  They had over 20 fun challenges and gave us a week to complete.  One of the challenges was to complete a card from start to finish in under 15 minutes with no stamping.  I was able to accomplish this by using this awesome tag from my January Elle's Studio kit.

I used this sketch from Viva La Verve:

I am also entering this in the NBUS challenge (never before used schtuff)  I had not even opened my Elle's Studio kit.  When I decided to, I saw this Thank You tag, loved it and knew that it would be perfect when paired with the above sketch on a quick and easy card.

I am also entering it into The Challenge at Always Play With Paper which this time happens to be Anything Goes.  It is also Lesley's one year anniversary of starting The Challenge....way to go Lesley!!

Finally, I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge -- Pastels.

Whew...4 challenges with one card!! I do not usually link up a project to more than one or two but all of these were awesome challenges.  Thanks for checking out my blog....if you are not following me already...would you please consider it?  Thank you!!

~~Sandi~~

Doodlebug Birthday card

The easiest time to make a card is right after making a layout for me when I have all kinds of coordinating scraps and embellishments on my desk.  I need to do that more often.  That is how this cute little birthday card came about.  I had just finished a birthday page and grabbed some of the scraps and stickers, stamped a quick sentiment and this card was done in less than 20 minutes.  I wish all my cards came together that quickly and easily.  Partly to credit for the ease of assembly of this card was that I had an awesome sketch from Viva La Verve:

I used Doodlebug's Sugar Shack collection for this card.  Isn't it adorable?  I am also entering this card in Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes challenge 

and 

the Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge -- Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

~~Sandi~~

1st Best Friend

While visiting my son earlier this month he told me that he found some pictures of his dog who sadly passed away a couple of years ago.  I had given Coda to Matt when she was just a little puppy and there was no doubt all these years who's dog she was.  She was also my granddaughter Abby's very first dog and 1st best friend.  When Coda passed away, I wanted to make a page for Abby's scrapbook of her but Matt could not find any pictures.  I was thrilled when he handed these to me.  I scanned them and made this page.  I will also make a page with one of these pictures and another one of Matt and a very young Coda that will go in Matt's book.

For this page I found a very unique and wonderful sketch by Brenda Ragsdale.  I flipped it on it's side as my photos were horizontal.  Here is the sketch:

I am entering this page in the Scrappy Friends Challenge which you can see on Brenda's blog HERE.

Thanks for stopping by....can you believe it is nearly April???

~~Sandi~~

Love, Love, Love

Here is another grandchild layout....there are plenty more coming also.  I got some really awesome pictures of the grandchildren on my recent trip up to Illinois-Indiana.  I especially LOVE this picture of me with my granddaughters and am so glad that I was able to scrap it right away.  I used my brand new Color Chaos collection from Bella Blvd. and this awesome sketch from The Memory Nest:

I will be back tomorrow with some cards that I made tonight after our day at the airshow.  What are you doing this weekend?

~~Sandi~~

Today

Last weekend I participated in a fun online crop with Paper Issues.  It was a blast and very inspiring.  The challenges and other projects that have been created have really fueled my creativity.  This is one of the layouts that I created.  The challenge was to use one of the free exclusive cut or print files.  The baseball quote card on my page is one of their free files.  You can check out their shop and free files HERE.

I used this awesome sketch by Laura Whitaker for Stuck?Sketches:

Laura is quickly becoming one of my favorite sketch artists.  I love working with her sketches.

My grandsons are featured on this page from a Chicago White Sox baseball game they attended last September.  They are super good friends even though they are 4 years apart.  I love to see how great they get along.  They would do anything for each other.

Thanks for stopping by...I love to show you my projects.

~Sandi~

Go Abby Go

Last summer while on vacation in the Chicago area, my husband, my son and I went to see the Chicago Bears training camp.  My daughter-in-law, Amy had to work so we also had the granddaughters with us.  They were less than thrilled with watching football practice drills for 2 hours so I promised them a trip to the park after the morning session was over.   Abby was just learning how to negotiate the horizontal bars and her daddy was helping teach her.  She caught on rather quickly and I got some good action shots for this page.  She is a very determined little girl and I hope she remains that way and she should go far in life.

I used this awesome sketch by Laura Whitaker:

I am entering this at the Scrap Much? Sketchy Friday Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by....I will be back tomorrow to share another page.

~~Sandi~~

Magic Family Memories

I decided to pull a picture out of the depths of my computer for this page.  This photo is from 2009 when my son Adam and my grandsons Jacob (then 7) and Cole (then 3) came down here to Florida and we went to the Magic Kingdom on my birthday.  My birthday is in August and let me tell you....it was HOT and crowded.  But we had a blast and so did the boys.  In fact it was my best birthday EVER.

I used some of the new collection from Simple Stories -- Say Cheese II and other bits and pieces from my Disney stash drawer.  The awesome sketch is by Diana Fisher for Scrapbook Circle and I am entering this page in their sketch challenge.  You can see the details HERE.

I have been busy creating all weekend so stay tuned for some more projects.  Thank you for stopping by my blog and I hope you have a wonderful and productive week.

~~Sandi~~

Some Bunny Loves Izzy

My little granddaughter Izzy was absolutely adorable when we visited them a couple of weeks ago.  Being my youngest and probably my last grandchild I just want to keep her little for as long as possible.  But we all know that won't happen....children grow up much too fast.  I made her this Easter card that I am sending with some chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and this cute little orange bunny,  This Grandma loves to spoil her grandkids. (What grandma doesn't??)

I used this sweet sketch from My Favorite Things for my card:

I would love to win this challenge and be able to pick up some of the awesome new releases at My Favorite Things. Every time they have a new release my wish list grows!

I am also entering this card at these challenges:

 Simon Says Stamps Lions and Lambs Oh My Monday challenge to use an animal on your card.  I love that sweet little Doodlebug Bunny with the carrot.

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by.....I love to read your comments.

~~Sandi~~

Happy Easter Abby

My granddaughter Abby is growing up to be a wonderful little lady.  The drawing on this card that came in my March Cocoa Daisy Kit just reminded me of her so I wanted to use it to make her Easter card.  I also used some small vellum circles and sequins from the kit, some Lawn Fawn papers and a doily and twine from my stash.  This is the awesome sketch that I used from Viva La Verve:

I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Pinterest Inspiration challenge:

I drew my inspiration from the Easter theme of the images along with the big bow on the hat and the bunny.

I have been crafting all weekend at an online crop so I will have lots of projects to share with you.  

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog.

~~Sandi~~

So Happy Together

I warned you there was about to be an avalanche of layouts with cute grandchildren and here is #2.  I bought my granddaughters Abby and Izzy matching Minions t-shirts.  I got some pictures of them wearing them and decided to use the purple and yellow color combo from the t-shirts for this fun layout.  I just basically went through my stash pulling out all the purple and yellow girlie stuff and moved them around on this page until I was happy with it.  At one point I was so frustrated with it that I walked away from it for a couple of days.  Have you ever done that?  Then last night, I picked it up again and it very quickly all fell into place.

I used this inspiring sketch from Paper Issues Sketchy Saturday:

The polka dot yellow doily and yellow letters are also from the March swag bag from Paper Issues.

I am also entering this page in these challenges:

Lasting Memories "So Happy Together" Challenge

and

Simon Says Stamp March Work It Wednesday -- the challenge here was to use your stamps -- old or new.  I used a brand new-to-me stamp from Unity of the bumblebees in the lower right hand corner. I am excited not only to ink up a new stamp but also to stamp on a layout.  I always tell myself that I want to do that more and this time I actually remembered!!

and

Rochelle Spears Tic Tac Toe Challenge 

(I went straight across the top row -- Stitching, Polka Dot Paper and Enamel Dots)

I had a lot of fun putting this page together.  I think I will pull a 2009 Disney picture out of my archives for my next page.  I want to use my new Simple Stories Disney themed Say Cheese II collection.  Stay Tuned!!

~~Sandi~~

First Grade

We just got back from a few days in the Chicago area to visit family and I got loads of pictures of my awesome grandchildren so get ready to see an onslaught of grandchildren layouts.  I am in my glory....lots of new crafty goodies to play with AND loads of cute pictures!  What more can a memory keeper ask for?

For this school picture of Abby I used an older collection from Echo Park and this wonderful Page Map sketch that was the Week #89 featured sketch at A Cherry On Top.  I love these sketches!

I am also entering this page at Clique Kits Anything Goes Challenge and Scrap Our Stash Challenge #24 -- Word Challenge.  I had to use an item for every letter in the word STENCIL and here's what I came up with:

S -- stickers and stars

T -- tag

E -- enamel dots

N -- numbers 

C -- camera

I -- ink bottle sticker

L -- layers 

I am also entering this in The Studio Challenges March 15th challenge -- Old Stash

Thanks for stopping by my blog....I love your comments so please let me know you stopped by.

~~Sandi~~

Thinking of You

A co-worker of mine just lost his mom and I needed a card to send to him.  I really do not like making these types of cards but life is such that we need them from time to time.  I water colored the roses and used this clean and simple sketch from Viva La Verve Sketches:

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and I am entering it in their Monday Challenge -- 

Hint of Clover

Thanks for stopping by my blog....I appreciate your comments.

~~Sandi~~

Hello.....But First Coffee

I was never much of a coffee drinker until I met and married Dave but boy has that changed now!  I prefer iced coffee and drink it year round but I do love a fresh hot cup of coffee also especially on a weekend morning while surfing the internet.

It is that time again....when Amy Tsuruta has her coffee lovers blog hop.  Amy had one last fall and it was so much fun with so many prizes that I wanted to make sure that I was able to participate again this time.  The theme (besides coffee of course, is spring) so I used some springtime papers from Lawn Fawn for my card. I used this sketch from the Viva La Verve sketch blog:

I am also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Monday Anything Goes challenge

Thanks for stopping in and checking out my blog.

~~Sandi~~

Awesome Gamer Dude

I was recently checking out my 9 year old grandson Cole's Instagram pictures and found these two selfies that he posted of himself gaming online.  I loved the pictures but they made me sad because I can see in his face a young man and no longer a little boy.

The perfect sketch to scrap these pictures came from Laura Whitaker on the Boys Rule blog:

I used a combination of Bella Blvd collections.....Max, Daily Chevies and Lucky Starz.  I think there might even be a sticker or 2 from a recent BB Halloween collection also.  I love how all my Bella Blvd collections coordinate with each other.

I am so excited that this time next week I will be spending time with this awesome kid, his brother, cousins, dad and aunt and uncle.  I am really excited about our upcoming Chicago trip.  Now if the weather in the Midwest will cooperate everything will be all good!

~~Sandi~~